Nine members of East Waynesville Baptist Church were allegedly removed from the church’s roll by a vote of other church members last Monday (May 2). The ousting was allegedly the culmination of a six-month debate over what some members considered excessive political messages filtering into the sermons of Rev. Chan Chandler, 33.

“He’s been told over and over he could not preach politics from the pulpit,” said Thelma Morris, a lon-time member of the church. “I don’t want it to be a political church. That would be sad.”

Morris said Chandler’s references in support of George Bush started in October but didn’t stop after the election. She recalls one time a woman stood up during the sermon and told him to stop it.

“She said, ‘Let’s forget about the election. We are here to worship God, not hear about politics,’” Morris recalled.

According to some church members, Chandler said he wanted the church to be a political church and wanted members to sign a card supporting him. He allegedly called for John Kerry supporters to come forward and repent and accept Bush or to leave the church. But the rift came to a head last Sunday when Chandler invited the at-large congregation to attend a deacon’s meeting scheduled for the following night. At the meeting, Chandler allegedly announced that anyone who didn’t support him should leave. Nine members walked out and others present applauded.

The ousted members claim that after they left, Chandler called their names one by one and took a vote on whether to remove them from the church.

“I have never been in a church where that has been done. The only way church members can be terminated is because they are living in sin and doing sinful things, but political parties are not sinful,” Morris said.

The ousted members claim the meeting was a set-up, stacked with Chandler’s supporters, many who are younger, new members Chandler recruited since becoming the pastor. Typically, only deacons can vote at deacon’s meetings. But with more than 30 at-large members present, the meeting morphed into a business meeting where any active members can vote on issues before the church. Ousted members claim this impromptu business meeting violated the church by-laws that require a business meeting to be announced two weeks in advance.

The national media has become as much a player in shaping the events as reporting on them in the past week. It has been commonly reported that the members were ousted for their political views. Most were Bush supporters, however; they simply didn’t agree with Chandler allegedly drawing a line in the sand and forcing members to chose between church and their political views.

“He’s made the statement, several times, that you should support Bush. I supported President Bush, but I do not support the preacher’s actions,” said David Richardson, a member of the church for three years.

Some members say the real issue is more about a power struggle between members who back Chandler and those who don’t — similar to any church that has an internal rift over whether they like the direction the preacher is steering the church — than about the political nuances of his sermons